Boise man confronts Anonymous rally in Downtown Boise

Michael Bartley said he was getting laundry money Tuesday afternoon — Guy Fawkes Day — when he caught sight of an Anonymous movement rally making its way through Downtown Boise to the Capitol steps.

“I came out, saw this and decided to give them a piece of my mind,” Bartley said.

The marchers, most of them wearing Guy Fawkes masks, chanted “Peace, love and freedom.” Their signs read “F— the system,” “Time for change,” “End the Fed,” “Morals over laws,” “If the troops defended freedom, they’d attack the government,” “Did you know we can vote today? Kick them all out” and “We the people are fed up.”

Bartley shouted at them: “Israel belongs to the Jews,” he said over and over.

At one point, one of the marchers asked him, “Who do you belong to?”

“God,” Bartley answered.

Then somebody in the rally dispatched a few young-looking people to try to hug Bartley. Apparently, he wasn’t in the mood.

“Stand back,” he warned.

What does Israel have to do with the Anonymous movement? Late last year, news reports linked the movement’s hackers to attacks on Israeli government websites in an effort to help Palestinians during a conflict over Gaza.

Bartley said he’s a Christian and he’s critical of the Anonymous movement because it took an anti-Israel stance.